1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus, an information processing method and a program, and more particularly, to an information processing apparatus, an information processing method and a program that are all adaptable to acquire preference information representing user's preference with higher accuracy when content is copied to a another apparatus.
2. Description of Related Art
In recent years, a content player adapted to record content of television broadcasting programs etc. with a large capacity recording medium such as a hard disk incorporated is in widespread use.
Among the content players of this type, there is available a player which acquires user's preference information from a history (or an operation history) of operations (such as rewinding and fast-forwarding, for instance) given by a user in the course of replay (or viewing) of content and a viewing history of the content, so as to perform presentation and automated recording or replay of the content estimated to be fit for user's preference based on the acquired preference information (See Japanese Patent Application Publication Numbers 2005-160114, 2005-80013, 2003-23589, for instance).
Further, in the content player, content is copied (moved) to a removable media such as a DVD-R/RW (Digital Versatile Disk Recordable/Rewritable) and a DVD+R/RW.
Recently, viewing of content at outdoors etc. has become possible by copying (dubbing) the content to a mobile-type player through an external I/F (Interface) such as a USB (Universal Serial Bus) interface, and by carrying around the mobile-type player.
However, if the content is once copied from the content player to the mobile-type player, the user may use the mobile-type player more than the content player to watch the copied content. Accordingly, an inadequate amount of the operation and/or viewing history may be stored in the content player.
Further, in a case where content, which is allowed to have one authorized copy for protection of a copyright (or copy-once-content), is to be copied, the content and/or content-related information contained in the content player is erased (or moved) when copying of the content is finished. Accordingly, after the content have been once copied, no the operation and/or viewing history of the once copied content is stored.
As a result, accuracy of the preference information acquired from the operation and/or viewing history of the content decreases. Thus, it becomes difficult to present appropriate content estimated to fit for the user's preference as recommending content based on the acquired preference information.
Accordingly, it is desirable to acquire preference information representing user's preference with higher accuracy. The present invention addresses this issue.